Let’s face it. Innovation in the car industry has not kept pace with the rapid progress made in the mobile phone industry. Not by a long shot. Apple, Samsung and other phone giants are able to shoot out new products and software with the changing of the seasons, while it takes auto companies years to develop and launch a new model.

Why? Because mobile phones are loaded with what the industry calls open source operating platforms like Apple’s IOS (*), which allows for lightning fast development and application times. “That’s the reason they’ve been so successful,” says Dan Cauchy, general manager of automotive at the Linux Foundation, creators of Automotive Grade Linux (AGL), a collaborative cross-industry effort that looks set to revolutionize the connected car.

Photo by Peter Lyon.

Using its AGL, the Linux Foundation is the only organisation addressing IVI software in the car.

AGL is an open source project that is changing the way carmakers build software. Open source, simply put, is computer software with its source code made available to anyone to change or distribute for any purpose.

“It took a while, but carmakers now see that a standardized system like AGL is in their best interests, as it reduces cost and leads to quicker development and implementation times. Car companies now finally realize that they do not just build cars. They are in the software business too,” adds Cauchy. In fact more than 100 members from Toyota to Mazda, Ford to Daimler are now working together to develop a common platform that can serve as an industry standard.

And in an announcement at the Automotive Linux Summit in Tokyo yesterday, Toyota revealed that its 2018 Camry, due out this summer in the U.S., would be the company’s first model to employ a new generation infotainment system using AGL’s operating system to control its suite of in-car apps. For the Linux Foundation, that’s a good a place to start as anywhere, given the fact that the Camry is a top seller, averaging nearly 400,000 sales a year.

Photo by Peter Lyon

Slates for a summer launch in the US, the new Camry will feature AGL systems.

“That’s just the beginning,” says Kenichi Murata, group manager of Connected Strategy and Planning at Toyota. “We will launch more Toyota and Lexus models in the near future featuring AGL’s system.” According to Cauchy however, we can expect to see many more carmakers rolling out AGL-based systems in the near future.

The AGL’s initial implementation is focused on In-Vehicle Infotainment systems or IVI. Up until now, these sat-nav, digital audio and hands-free phone calling apps have been developed by carmakers and equipment suppliers, leading to fragmentation in the industry. AGL will ‘defragmentize’ IVI systems with a unified dashboard operating system that frees automotive software engineers from bespoke platform development, thus saving time and cost.

This open source system gives carmakers a way to develop technologies without the need to share their customers’ data with Google or Apple. Toyota might be the first batter to the plate, but there’s a long line forming behind it with companies such as Ford, Daimler, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan, Mazda and Subaru. The winds of change are blowing through IVI systems, and it’s called AGL.

(*) Post Script: Our apologies. In this story, we said that mobile phones are loaded with what the industry calls open source operating platforms like Apple’s IOS. This was incorrect. What we should have said is Google's Android is open source.